Water-wheel-regulating apparatus



(No Model.) 1 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. 0 B.. SESSIONS & B; O. VAN EMON.

WATER WHEEL REGULATING APPARATUS.

Patented Apr. 17,1894.

Witnesses.-

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. O. B... SESSIONS & B. C. VAN BMON.WATER. WHEEL REGULATING APPARATUS.-

No. 518,282. Patented Apr. 17, 1894.

uvuuuOOuOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODOOOO UNITED STAT S PATENT GFFICE.

CHARLES B. SESSIONS AND BURTO C. vAN EMON, or SAN FRANCISCO, CA IF RNIA.

WATER-WHEEL-REGULATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,282, dated April17, 1894.

Application filed June 17, 1893. Serial No. 478.010. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES B. SESSIONS and BURTON O. VAN EMON,citizens of the United States, residing in the city and county of SanFrancisco, State of California, have invented'certain new and usefulImprovements in Water-Wheel-Regulating Apparatus, as set forth in thefollowing specification and drawings herewith, which we declare to be afull, clear, and exact description of our invention, the manner ofconstructing the same, and its application to use.

Our invention relates to what are called impulse or tangential waterwheels that are driven at high speed, requiring regulating apparatus ofinstantaneous action, and to the employment of centrifugal force, incombination with the torque or driving force of the wheel, as elementsin the speed-governing apparatus for such water wheels.

Our invention consists of levers, or levers and weights, mounted on orwithin a disk or wheel fastened to the water wheel shaft,'also connectedto a pulley, gear wheel, or, other means of transmitting power, mountedloosely on the water wheel shaft, so that increase or decrease ofresistance or work will instantly act upon the water wheel regulatingapparatus, in combination with, or independent of the centrifugal forceof the levers, or levers and weights, and centrifugal elements, as-

either the speed or resistance are increased or diminished. I

The object of our invention is to attain by means of these twoindependent forces, namely: the speed of the Water wheel and theresistance thereto, and certain relations between these forces, as therate of revolutio n may determine, and thus attaininstantaneous, ornearly instantaneous, control of the water jet that drives the wheel,and thus maintain a more uniform speed of the latter than is possiblewith centrifugal governors acting alone.

Another object of our invention is to constitute, as far as possible,the regulating apparatus an integral portion of the water wheel,

operated directly from the axis thereof, and without the intervention ofgearing subject to derangement or accident.

Referring to the drawings forming a part of this specification, figure lis a side elevation of an impulse or tangential water wheeldriven by ajet, and fitted with our improved regulating apparatus. Fig. 2 is areverse or edge view of Fig. 1 in the opposite plane. Fig. 3 is a planview of Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the govern-.

ing apparatus, mounted on or connected to the water wheel shaft. Fig. 5is a longitudinal section through the same. Fig. 6 is an end view of theclutch plate that imparts f gential or impulse water wheels which aredriven at high speed, the momentum of the wheels and tardy action ofcentrifugal apparatus acting on the water jet, has prevented uniformmotion, such as is required in driving electric generating machines, andin other cases. In our invention we overcome these impediments by acombination of two forces acting on the water jet, and also to someextent acting on the momentum of the water wheel, as will now beexplained by reference to the drawings.

A is a casing or main frame in which is mounted a. tangential waterwheel of the usual construction, driven by a nozzle attached to theinner end of the supply pipe 0.

B is a removable cover or housing to permit access to the wheel.

The construction of the water wheel and I nozzle not forming any part ofour present invention, thesedo not require to be shown separately in thedrawings, or further described.

In the supply pipe 0 is placed'a stop valve D, and between this and themain casing A, is a wing valve E, operated in the usual manner by a stemF, crank G, and link H connectingto the regulating mechanismby means ofa lever H The water-wheel shaft I is supported in two brackets orpedestals J J and at one end, outside of the bearings J, is fastened awheel K, fixed to the shaft and recessed on one side to receive the mainelements of the regulating apparatus, to be hereinafter described.Beyond this is loosely mounted on the same shaft, a pulley L from whichthe power of the water wheel is transmitted by a band, which is the mostcommon means of transmission for water wheels of this class.

Inside the recessed wheel are mounted two levers or weights M M pivotedat act on the wheel K, and free to swing outward by centrifugal force,except as resisted by the springs N N and also by the links 0 0 attachedto the pulley L, as shown in i Fig. 4. The weight of these levers h M,and the element of centrifugal force is so arranged in respect to thedriving resistance and the rate of revolution, to suit varying degreesof speed and power of the wheels to which the regulating apparatus isapplied.

Referring further to Fig. 4, and supposing the water Wheel shaft and thewheel K to be driven in the direction indicated by the arrow at the rim,and power to be transmitted by a band represented by the lines I) b,then the resistance or turning moment of the work will fall in a reversedirection on the pulley L, and tend to resist or revolve it as indicatedby the arrow thereon. This would tend to draw the levers M M inward inthe same direction as the springs O O are acting, so that both theseforces act against the outward centrifugal strain on the levers M M*. Inthis manner it will be seen that while the centrifugal force tends tomove the weights or levers M M with a strain in proportion .to .the rateof revolution, there is a still more active and instant force derivedfrom the variations of resistance offered by the driving band I), thelatter force acting independent of the speed of the water wheel, butcommonly with a direct relation thereto. To make this method ofoperating more plain, if the links 0' 0 were removed, and thepulley Lwas fixed to the shaft I, then the action of the levers M M opposed bythe centripetal springs N N, would correspond to a common shaftcentrifugal governor, such as is applied to steam engines, or if thecentripetal springs N N were removed, then the position of the leversand weights M M would be determined by the driving strain on the band I)b, and opposite torsional strain on the pulley L.

Having thus explained the nature of the forces set up in our regulatingapparatus, we will now proceed to describe the method of transmissionand application to the water jet and to regulation of the speed of thewater wheel. On the inner face of the pulley L are beveled circularledges c c c a made integrally with a collar or plate P, set into theface of the wheel as shown in Fig. 8, and in the section, Fig. 5.Opposite to these, and meshing therein, are another set of similarbeveled cylindrical ledges e e e 6 formed on a plate Q, so that when thepulley L and this plate Q are turned relatively, in opposite directions,the angular faces of the ledges c and 6 move the plate Q laterally withrespect to the wheel K and the shaft I. The lateral movement of thisplate Q is communicated through the wheel K by means of the slidingstuds (1 d d d, which are attached to another plate R on the outside ofthe wheel K, sliding loosely on the projecting sleeve S. As this disk orplate R-is moved outward it presses on the end of the bar T, whichslides loosely through the bracket J, or other suitable support, and isresisted by a coilspring U seen in Fig. 2, so as to maintain contactbetween the end of the bar T and the disk R at W. The lever H isattached to the bar Tatm, and is mounted on a fulcrum V attached to themain frame A, so that any lineal movement of the bar T is, by means ofthe lever H link H, and crank G, communicated directly to the wing valveE, opening or closing the same as the speed of the wheel, and also asthe resistance of its work may demand. The lateral movement of the diskR acts only one way on the bar T, the return movement, or opening actionon the valveE is performed by the spring U, the force of the latterbeing made sufficient for that purpose, but not strong enough to resistthe centrifugal and turning strains of the regulating elementshereinbefore described. These devices for transmitting to the valve Ethe centrifugal and torsional forces of the regulating appa ratus, canbe varied to suit the various conditions of construction, the purposebeing to communicate to the regulating valve E, the changes of therelative positions of thepulley L and shaft I, and the resultantposition of the levers or weights M M as changes of either speed orstrain may determine.

Having thus described the nature and ob jects ofour invention and themethod of applying the same, what we claim as new, and desire to securebyLetters Patent, is-

1. In a water wheel governor or regulating apparatus, the combinationwith the main watenwheel shaft, of a pulley loosely mounted thereon, afixed disk likewisethereon, centrifugally-acting weighted levers pivotedon the disk, spring connections between said levers and the disk, a linkconnection between them and the loose pulley, and suitable connectionsconsisting essentially of a laterally movable disk having an engagementwiththe loose pulley by means of beveled cylindrical ledges whereby theactions of the aforesaid parts may control the valve in the water supply pipe, substantially as described.

2. Ina water wheel regulating apparatus, the combination of the mainshaft, a'loose pulley thereon, a fixed disk likewise thereon,centrifugally-acting levers pivoted on the disk, spring connectionsbetween the free ends of said levers and the periphery, of the disk,link connections between said levers and the loose pulley, the watersupply pipe and the valve therein, the laterally-movable disk operatedby the aforesaid mechanism and the beveled cylindrical ledges forconnecting or disconnecting said disk with the loose pulley, andleverage connections actuated by said disk so as to control the watersupply valve, substantially as described.

3. In a water wheel regulating apparatus, the combination of the mainshaft, a loose pulley and a fixed disk thereon, together withcentrifugal levers on the diskand spring and link connections betweenthem and the disk and pulley, and a laterally-movable sliding diskoperated by the aforesaid mechanism through the engaging ledges or teethand the sliding studs together with a lever acted on endwise by saiddisk for the purpose of imparting motion through suitable connections tocontrol the water supply valve, substantially as described.

4. In a water-wheel regulating apparatus, the combination of the waterwheel shaft, a pulley loosely mounted thereon, a fixed disk thereon,weighted levers pivoted on the disk, spring connections and linkconnections between the ends of said levers and the disk and the pulley,a collar on the pulley having beveled ledges, a sliding plate havingalso beveled ledges which engage the ledges on with centrifugal leverspivoted on the fixed pulley and spring and link connections between saidlevers and the pulleys, all arranged substantially as described andbeveled ledges on the inner face of the loose pulley, a disk oppositethereto having likewise beveled ledges which engage the other ledges,another laterally movable disk having sliding studs which are attachedlikewise to the ledge provided disk, a rod which is operated uponendwise by the sliding disk and suitable connections between it and thewater supply valve whereby the latter is controlled so as to regulatethe water supply, substantially as described.

6. In a water wheel regulating apparatus,

the combination of the water wheel shaft, a

pulley loosely mounted thereon and provided with beveled circular ledgeson its inner face, a fixed disk likewise mounted upon the main shaft,centrifugal weighted levers pivoted on said disk, spring connectionsbetween the free ends of said levers and the disk, link connectionsbetween saidle'vers and the loose pulley, a plate adjacent to the loosepulley having beveled cylindrical ledges thereon which engage the ledgeson the loose pulley, another laterally movable disk on the main shafthaving sliding studs which are attached to theledge-provided plate, allarranged so that when the two sets of ledges engage with each other, thesliding studs may shift the disk, together with the leverage mechanismwhereby said disk operates to control the water supply valve,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto affixed our signatures in thepresence of two wit- HGSSGS.

CHARLES B.SESSIONS BURTON G. VAN EMON.

Witnesses:

ALFRED A. ENQUIST, WILSON D. BENT, J r.

